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Author: Joan Hall

Choir songs that carry the message of invitation

International Mass Choir of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Bishop Horace Smith in the foreground.

What should the choir sing during altar call?

Altar call (or “invitation”) is a special time during a church service, the time when people are encouraged to come forward either to make a commitment to God or to request prayer.

Here are some of my favorite songs that a choir can sing that invite people to come to the Lord.

Slow songs

Slow songs are traditionally preferred for altar calls. A slow and gentle tune gives a person space to do some soul-searching. Slow songs also make good background music while the speaker brings the message of invitation.

Come Home – by Hezekiah Walker

In my opinion, the lead verse on this song is a little heavy-handed. But the chorus is nice, and if the choir is singing for altar call, they would probably go straight to the chorus anyway.

Luke 15:20-24

(20) And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. (21) And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. (22) But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: (23) And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: (24) For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Key of Db.

Difficulty level:

For singers: 4/5 (difficulty level would drop to a 3 if you change the key)

For musicians: 3/5

Lead singer required? Only if you’re including the verses.

There is also an instrumental track for “Come Home”, available from Fruition Music. You can use the track for accompaniment if you don’t have a musician. Link: Come Home (Instrumental)

Don’t Let This Moment Pass You By – by Kristle Murden

“Don’t let this moment pass you byJesus is waiting with His arms open wideHe’s willing to supply all of the needs in your lifeTake my advice, don’t let this moment pass you by”Andrae Crouch wrote this beautiful invitation song. Kristle Murden’s recording of it is done as a solo with backup singers, but it also sounds lovely with just choir. We always end up doing it slower than the recorded version.

II Corinthians 6:2 — “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Renew – written by Bishop Charles Watkins

This is one of my favorite songs. Taken almost verbatim from Psalm 51:10. A beautiful, comforting melody makes this a wonderful selection for altar calls.

The only recording I could find was from the P.A.W. Mass Choir album where it’s done as part of a medley of three Charles Watkins songs. Fortunately, the Amazon preview of the medley is an excerpt that contains Renew.

“(9) And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: (10) Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. (11) The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. (12) I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. (13) And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (14) I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

This simple tune carries the message that nobody should consider themselves a lost cause. No matter what mess a person is in, they can come out of it with God’s help.

What I like about this song is the fact that at the same time it shows understanding to people who have fallen, it tells them not to be complacent about remaining in a fallen state. The line that repeats over and over is “get back up again — get back up again.”

Psalm 40:2 — “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. “

Will You Be Ready? – by Commissioned

There is a very long lead verse at the beginning of this song, but the part you would want your choir to do is just the repeating chorus at the end. Beautiful, simple, and unforgettable.

Matthew 24:44 — “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

Key of Db.

Difficulty level:

For singers: 1/5

For musicians: 1/5

Lead singer required? Not for the part you would want to do for altar call.

Video: Bishop Charles Watkins sings Renew

There’s a rather long introduction by Bishop Arthur Brazier before the song starts.

Fast songs

Yes, fast songs can be good for altar call as well. A fast song can add a sense of urgency, the feeling that one needs to take action NOW! If the speaker is giving a rousing and forceful invitational message, a fast song might be better background music than a slow one.

One of the ways that I love to use fast invitational songs is as the closing number for a concert. Ending concerts with an uptempo number is always nice, and if the song has a good repeating vamp, you can just keep on singing it as you hand it over to the preacher to make the altar call.

At the Table – by Richard Smallwood

This one is based on the old congregational song that says, “Come over here where the table is spread and the feast of the Lord is going on.” There are many places in the scriptures where communing with God is compared to eating.

(32) Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. (33) For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. (34) Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. (35) And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Look and Live – by the Michael Fletcher Chorale

A contemporary spin on the old hymn of the same name. Here’s a link for the original hymn: Look and Live.

All of the links I have seen with lyrics for this song did not have the correct lyrics. They had the lyrics for the original hymn, even though they said it was the lyrics for the Michael Fletcher song. But the words are pretty easy to understand on the recording, so you’ll be OK.

Isaiah 45: 22 — “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”

This song also goes well with sermons about Ezekiel preaching to the valley of dry bones.

Key of Bb.

Difficulty level:

For singers: 2/5

For musicians: 2/5

Lead singer required? No.

Say the Word – by Rodnie Bryant

This song is a lot of fun for the choir to sing. The best feature for altar call purposes is the vamp that repeats over and over, “Say the word: I want to be born again; I want to be born again.” It’s a very catchy line that usually inspires the audience to sing along. It’s almost like subliminal advertising for salvation.

These days a lot of people talk about “speaking the word of faith” and often refer to the passage where Jesus said to ask and it will be given to you. But it seems like people mainly focus on asking for earthly prosperity and blessings. What Jesus told us to ask for is the Holy Ghost. That’s the miracle that we need to be looking for when we “say the word.”

Luke 11:9-13

“(9) And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (10) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (11) If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? (12) Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? (13) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

Romans 10:8 — “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach”

What are your favorite choir songs for altar call?

“Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” — Hebrews 13:5

If you don’t have a church musician, it can feel like there is a missing piece in your choir ministry. But for whatever period of time you have to deal with this situation, here are three ways to make the most of what your choir presents.

The three strategies for choirs that don’t have an instrument player

I recommend that you try a combination of all three of these strategies. You’ll have much more variety in your choir presentations.

Strategy #1: A Cappella Songs

“A cappella” means singing without instruments

The best musical instrument of all is the human voice. When a choir does a good rendition of a great a cappella song, no one will even miss the instruments.

To do a cappella music well, your choir needs to be very strong on keeping their pitch and staying on their parts. Give the songs plenty of rehearsal time to make sure you’re ready to sing with confidence

These are some nice a cappella gospel songs for choirs. I’ve rated them for difficulty on a scale of 5.

God Is Good (Regina Belle)

Tempo: Moderate
Key: Bb

Difficulty level: 2 / 5

Lead singer required? You could do it without, but it’s better with the lead.

King Jesus Is A-Listening (L. A. Mass Choir)

Lily in the Valley (John P. Kee)

Lead singer required? You could do it without, but it’s better with the lead.

A Testimony (Rodnie Bryant)

Tempo: Slow, but with a strong beat

Starts in the key of B, then goes to C, then Db, then D

Difficulty level: 2.5 / 5

Lead singer required? Probably so, if you do all the verses

The recording includes some instruments, but the instruments really just hit some accents in a few places. The song would go just fine without them.

When My choir sang “A Testimony”, we didn’t use the same lead verses they have on the recording. We made up our own verses based on real-life testimonies of some of the choir members.

Video: New Hope Choir singing an a cappella song

The New Hope Gospel Choir has wonderful musicians, but this particular song is a cappella — “King Jesus Is A-Listening”.

Leave a comment at the bottom if you have suggestions for other good a cappella songs for gospel choirs!

Strategy #2: Super Easy Songs to Play

Even if you don’t have any musicians in your church, there are some songs that could be easy enough for a non-musician to play (even a child!).

I know several songs that have a pattern of a few chords that just repeat over and over all the way through the song. If somebody learns that one progression, you’ve got an accompaniment for the song.

You may be able to find chord charts for some of these on the internet, or perhaps you can ask a musician from another church to write out a little chart that your designated person could play from. And who knows, maybe it will be a stepping stone toward someone really learning to play!

Some member of your choir could probably learn to play songs like one of these. The difficulty ratings are for the singers, not the musician.

Oh Lord, We Praise You (originally by Hezekiah Walker)

Tempo: Fast

The song starts in the key of Db. Of course, it’s usually done with lots of key changes, but you don’t have to do that.

Awesome (Charles Jenkins)

Strategy #3: Instrumental tracks

Another popular alternative is using pre-recorded instrumental tracks. These are made specifically for singers and choirs to use for accompaniment.

An advantage to these is that, of course, you get a very nice, professional sounding instrumental backup. One disadvantage is that you have no flexibility. You have to sing the song in exactly the same key, at the same speed, and with the same sequence as the accompaniment track. You can’t do one more reprise if you feel led to.

You can do it!

If you’re a choir director, having a good relationship with your musician is essential. For the two of you to be an effective team, your musician needs to know that you value him or her, and that you consider their needs and don’t take them for granted.

Here are a few things to keep in mind to make sure that you’re treating your musician right:

Know how much advance time they need to learn music. A typical amount of advance time would be two weeks before the first rehearsal (the rehearsal, not the final performance). But talk with your individual musician to find out if they need a different amount of time than that. If you are not a musician yourself, you might not have a sense of what music is easy or hard. It is always better to give it to them too early rather than too late.

Know how comfortable they are with playing in different keys. Ask them about this, but ask them in a way that is not judgmental. Work with them on choosing keys if this is an issue. And after they have learned a song in one key, they might not be able to change at the drop of a hat. Don’t suddenly decide during rehearsal that the song is too high and you want to change. When you first choose a song to teach, think about whether the key on the recording is right for your choir. If it’s not, plan in advance and talk with your musician about choosing another key.

Know how to signal them when you’re conducting. Sometimes if you’re going to a different part of the song, the musicians have to make a shift before the choir does. When you’re planning your conducting, listen to the places where chords change as the song goes from one section to another. Make sure you signal your transitions early enough for the musicians to be able to make their moves. Ask your musician to let you know if there are any places where your signals are too late or are not clear.

Also, make sure that your signals are consistent, that you always use the same ones to mean the same things. This is important for both the musicians and the singers.

If you want the musician to help you figure out the choir parts, tell them in advance. You know that bad dream that people have sometimes where they find out that they’re enrolled in a class they never signed up for, and today is the final exam? That’s the situation you’re putting your musician in if you ask them during rehearsal, “What’s the alto part on this line?” when you never told them that they needed to study the vocal parts.

Just like you select music that works with the skill level of your choir members, keep in mind the skill level of your musicians as well. There may be some songs that they’re not ready to tackle at this stage in their development. If you’re unsure about whether they would be ready for a particular kind of song, check with them (in a friendly, open-minded way, of course!).

As you can see, a lot of these tips talk about communication. Having good communication is a vital part of working successfully with your musician. Appreciation is also important. Be thankful for everything your musician offers, and let that attitude of thankfulness and appreciation be evident in when you talk with them. Encourage and pray for them, and let them know how much you value them as a part of the ministry.

Someone asked about “ways to help choir members stay on pitch and not be tone deaf”.

Are they tone-deaf?

Sometimes there will be that person in a choir who is singing their own note, totally different from everybody else. Are they tone-deaf?

Probably not

There are very few people in the world who actually have amusia (tone-deafness). A person with amusia has more going on than just trouble singing the correct note. They also can’t recognize differences between notes when they hear them — they can’t tell the difference between “Amazing Grace” and “Happy Birthday”. If someone is wondering whether they are tone deaf, there is a test they can take here: http://tonedeaftest.com/

They just need training

If they’re NOT tone-deaf, then they have some ear for music. But they have not learned how to synchronize their ears and their vocal chords. So what they need is training and practice (and, of course, some people need a lot more training and practice than others).

A suggestion for how to start ear-training someone

A lot of the articles I read on this subject made this suggestion — when start teaching someone has trouble singing in tune, don’t start by asking them to match a pitch that you sing or play on an instrument. Instead, have them sing a note of their own, and then you match that pitch with your voice or an instrument. This gives them the understanding of how it sounds when two voices are in tune with each other. Then you can build their skills from there.

Stay in their same range

Another suggestion is to make sure that the teacher and the student have similar vocal ranges. I have experienced this issue myself. When I am teaching parts to bass singers, there are some notes they have that are outside of my range. If I sing the bass part an octave higher, there are some bass singers who can easily translate my notes into their octave, while other bass singers have trouble making the connection between the G that I’m singing and the G that they should sing. So if you working with a beginning singer, you might need to make sure that they are taught by someone who is singing the exact same notes, not an octave above or below.

Location, location, location

If most of the singers in the section hold their part well, but there are a couple of them who have trouble, it can help a lot to place a struggling singer next to a strong one.

Talk about the importance of blending!

Some people will tend to sing a little sharp or flat because when they’re on the note exactly, they feel like they can’t hear themselves. Make sure they understand that it’s a good thing when they’re blending well with the other singers, even if it seems like they’re getting “drowned out”.

Resources

Here are some of the articles I read when I was researching this issue. You will see the suggestions I just gave you in these articles, along with more ideas:

The best choir songs from the vast Walter Hawkins collection

Walter Hawkins, singing with the Hawkins Family and with the Love Center Choir, has brought us so many essential gospel choir songs that it’s difficult to narrow down a list of favorites. But here’s my list of the very best of his contributions to the choir repertoire.

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Changed

Lead singers love this song, but I think the best part is the gorgeous choir harmonies. The harmonies and rhythm on the verses were a departure from what everyone expected from gospel music at that time. And so beautifully done.

Thank You

I wrote a whole web page about “Thank You” because it’s one of the most important songs in the gospel choir repertoire. A lot of people would consider this to be Walter Hawkins’s masterpiece.

I was at a convention once and one of the bishops just started singing the verse out of the blue. Even though we were not his choir, he just knew that we would be ready to back him up. Even if there isn’t a choir in the stand, you could start this one up and the congregation would do the choir part for you, probably in harmony and everything. Every choir should know this one.

Growing as a gospel choir singer

If you’re a member of your church choir, I hope and pray that the reason you joined the choir is because of your love for God and your desire to worship and serve Him. You have the faith part already, and the virtue (righteousness) part is between you and God (or, at least, if you have issues in that area, you need to be seeking help from someone other than me 🙂 ). The purpose of this page is to help you in adding knowledge that will help you in your ministry as a choir member.

Learning how music works

Music is something that comes to us naturally, just like language. As toddlers, we learn to talk long before we learn reading, writing, spelling, and grammar. In the same way, we learn to hear music and sing it without knowing anything about tonality and scales and meter.

But if you never learned how to read and spell, you would miss out on much that the English language has to offer (great books, magazines, the internet). Similarly, learning a little about the technical aspects of music can enrich your experience of music as well as making it easier for you to perform as a choir singer and do more advanced types of music.

That’s what we’re going to talk about here.

MusicTheory.net
You might want to check out this online set of lessons in music theory.

Understanding music: Keys and scales

What does it mean when we say a song is in the key of C or B-flat or whatever else? It’s something that’s become a part of all of us as we grew up listening to music. When you hear a piece of music, you can tell that there’s one note that’s the foundation of the tune. That’s the note that everything is leading to. When you reach that note, you feel like the tune has come to a resting place. Listen to this example:

Now it feels like it’s come all the way home. That last note is the key note for the song. In music terms, it’s also called the tonal center or tonic. In the clips you heard, the tonic was an E note, so the song was being sung in the key of E. We can sing the song with a different tonal center and make the same melody. Here is the tune in the key of A-flat:

A scale is the series of notes that are used in a particular key. In the key of C major, the notes that make up the scale are:

C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C

These notes are the scale tones for the C major scale. If you sing them in order, they sound like the familiar “do-re-mi” song: C major scale

Numbers are assigned to each scale tone. The tonic gets the number 1, the next note in the scale is 2, and so on. So in the key of C major, tone number 1 is C, number 2 is D, number 3 is E. There are seven scale tones in a normal scale, and after number 7 then you’re back to number 1.

In other keys, different notes make up the scale. In the key of E major, the notes of the scale are:

E – F-sharp – G-sharp – A – B – C-sharp – D-sharp – E

The tonic is E, the 2nd is F-sharp, the 3rd is G-sharp, etc.

If you sing those notes, you get the same scale, just in a higher key: E major scale

If we go back to the song we were using, we can express the notes in the first line by using the scale tones:

5 – 3 – 2 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 6 – 1 – 6 – 5 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 3 – 3 – 2

No matter what key we’re in, those scale tones in that order will produce that melody.

As you practice singing and listening to music, you’ll start to get a feel for what the scale tones sound like. This will help you understand and remember your choir parts. For example, on a particular song, the sopranos might be starting on the third, the altos on the tonic, and the tenors on the fifth. If you understand that, it will help you keep your place and know where you’re going.

A tip for hitting that first note right

Sometimes when singers are coming in with their first notes of a song, I will hear them start on a note that’s close to the right one, but not quite there. Then they have to slide up to the real note.

One way to avoid this is to sing the note to yourself very quietly, or even just sing it in your mind. It really will help you get that first note straight on. Try it!

Tutorial video on singing high notes

Everybody can profit from this. Here’s another instructional video from Eric Arceneaux. This one is about hitting high notes smoothly without screeching.

The World Children’s Choir with President and Mrs. Geroge W. Bush — Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Choir decorum

Elisha Mitchell has a nice list of suggestions about choir etiquette. Some of them are practical tips, others are spiritual.

Some of my favorite practical suggestions from the list:

If you know you need extra help, bring a portable tape player. Record the rehearsal so you can practice at home.

Try singing music from a different era or style. This may be challenging but it serves to reach a diverse audience. And sometimes an “oldie but goodie” is right on time.

Whenever possible, a lead singer should test the microphone before a program. If this is not possible, you can also hear what it sounds like when someone else is using it. Then you’ll know how far away to hold it or whether to use it at all.

And some of my favorite spiritual points:

Sing the song you aren’t particularly fond of with a good attitude. It may be exactly what someone else needs to hear.

Harping on someone else’s inability will reduce the choir’s overall effectiveness to minister. Edify or hush.

Open your heart to be a channel for God to minister to others. To have that focus is especially helpful when you’re asked to sing a song–again!

Vocal warmup tips – A video series from Eric Arceneaux

This is something we can all work on together. I need to strengthen my vocals as much as anybody.

In these videos, Arceneaux talks about warm-up exercises that can help develop your singing technique. In this first one he spends some time introducing the series and then gets into the first exercise. Check out his whole series.

POLLS

How do you feel about your skills as a choir singer?

I'm very happy with my skills. I'm right where I want to be.

I've got the basics down, but I need to develop more to take it to the next level.

“Thank You (Lord, for All You’ve Done for Me)” — A gospel choir standard

Everything you need to know to teach “Thank You” by Walter Hawkins to your choir.

“Thank You (Lord, for All You’ve Done for Me)” by Walter Hawkins and the Love Center Choir, was a part of the “Love Alive IV” album that was released in 1990. The song is immensely popular with gospel music fans and is a standard in the gospel choir repertoire.

Everybody knows this song and everybody loves it. As I said on my web page about Walter Hawkins songs: “Even if there isn’t a choir in the stand, you could start this one up and the congregation would do the choir part for you, probably in harmony and everything.”

What’s great about “Thank You”

What makes it one of the best choir songs around?

The message of “Thank You” is an easy one to love. Being grateful for the simple blessings of life

It’s a modern-sounding song, with references to the problems that are often faced in today’s society. The song was released in 1990, just in time for the recession of the early ’90s, so people identified with the line that says “the economy’s down, people can’t get enough pay” and “folks without homes living out in the street”. But in all of the intervening years, times have never been so perfect that the song no longer felt relevant, especially in the black community.

Lead singers love this song! The melody on the lead verses is simple but lends itself well to bending and intonation to let a singer mold it to their own style and be expressive. And the chord progression starts out very laid back and builds tension as it gets to the end of the verse where the singer and the musicians can all let loose on the last line — “Thank You Lord, for all You’ve done for me”.

Choirs love it too. The choir part has an easy groove to get into and the parts are easy to learn — even though you might not be doing it exactly the same as it is on the album. It doesn’t go too high or too low, and it’s an easy song to sing expressively.

Buy the song!

Actually, you’ll have to buy the whole album. “Thank You” isn’t sold as a single.

Overview of “Thank You”

“Thank You” was originally done in the key of Ab. It’s written for three choir parts — soprano, alto, and tenor — and a lead singer. On the original recording the choir it is accompanied by a standard gospel band.

Songwriter and publisher info for “Thank You”

“Thank You” was written by Walter Hawkins, one of the most important gospel choir songwriters of all time.

According to BMI, the publishing rights are held by LEEODD MUSIC, MALACO MUSIC COMPANY, and PEERMUSIC III LTD.

How to play “Thank You” – A video tutorial from Jarreau24 on YouTube

Richard Smallwood – A songwriter’s songwriter

Smallwood stands unchallenged in his niche as a creator of gospel music. He brings classical elements to black gospel music in a way that incorporates the best of both traditions. A lot of his music is not for novices, but for experienced singers and choirs, he inspires us to work harder, refine our skills more, and bring ourselves up to the level of this splendid music.

The songwriting of Richard Smallwood

His style of songs

One of the things I mentioned on my Andrae Crouch fan page is that much of Crouch’s music adapts well to singers and musicians of all different skill levels. Well, Smallwood stakes out a different territory. His best songs are challenging ones, the songs that you have to take some serious time rehearsing. Hearing an inexperienced choir attempt a Richard Smallwood song when they’re not ready can be painful. But when a choir is prepared and executes well, it’s a transcendent experience.

He has songs that make classical styles sound soulful and others that make gospel and blues styles sound elegant. And every composition he writes makes it clear that he understands music inside and out.

Sheet music for Richard Smallwood songs.

Sheet music is available for a lot of Smallwood’s songs, especially his later work. Sadly, some of his older songs are not available in sheet music form.

I think sheet music also sends a message to directors like me about what Smallwood wants for his music: Don’t guess at how the song goes. Do it right.

Richard Smallwood majored in piano performance at Howard University.

During his time at Howard, Smallwood and some of his classmates staged a protest.

They took over the Fine Arts Building for two weeks, demanding that Howard start including spirituals, gospel music, and jazz into their music curriculum. (McCoy)

“There is good and bad music in every genre.”

Richard Smallwood

Richard Smallwood’s musical background

The influence of many different styles of music are clearly heard in Richard Smallwood’s songwriting.

As a child, his mother took him to classical concerts frequently. Meanwhile, his stepfather made him learn and practice hymns to play on the piano at church. Richard was also listening to soul and R&B music, but that was a secret from his parents at the time (they didn’t approve of “worldly” music). Smallwood states that there is good music and bad music in every genre, there is no type of music that is all good or all bad. He never makes a conscious effort to incorporate particular musical styles into his writing. He just immerses himself in music that he loves, and it naturally flows out in his work. (McCoy)

I admire that mindset. I hear music sometimes where it sounds like the artist is trying a little to hard to write in a particular style in order to prove how sophisticated or intellectual or hip they are. It feels very self-conscious. Richard Smallwood’s example to us is to just dig into as much music as we can, follow our passions, and see what comes of it.

Richard Smallwood’s eighth-grade public school music teacher was Roberta Flack!

He says that her approach to playing the piano was a great influence on him. (Joy97)

A glimpse into Smallwood’s writing process

Here’s what Smallwood says about what makes for a good song (McCoy):

A song should be singable.

It should be memorable.

It ought to have a “hook” (some musical element that will stick in your mind when the song is over).

It should be structurally sound (have a beginning, middle, and end, just like a story).

I think one way that Smallwood follows the “singable” ideal in his music is the fact that he writes almost everything in 3-part harmony. I’m certain that he would have the knowledge and talent to write things for four-part choir with full classical counterpoint any time he wanted to (remember that last line on “Calvary”?). But he knows his target audience. He’s writing for church gospel choirs. In those choirs, the singers are used to singing in three parts, and all the harmonies go in similar motion.

One of the things I’m always curious about with other songwriters is the “chicken and egg” question — Which came first, the words or the melody. Here’s what Smallwood says: “It can come either way. Many times I’ll get a melody or a musical phrase that I’ll elaborate upon and then the lyrics will come. Other times I’ll get a lyric or a theme and then the music will come.” (GospelFlava)

Another aspect of his songwriting — “I am sort of a perfectionist, and I probably throw away more stuff that I write than I keep. I’ll go through three or four versions of a song before I get to the final version and then if I don’t like it I dump the song” (GospelFlava). I can definitely relate to that. For me, the process of songwriting includes writing lots of weak materiaI on the way to writing the one that will be a keeper.

Here are a few songs that showcase Smallwood’s songwriting talent:

Total Praise

“Total Praise” is considered by many (myself included) to be Smallwood’s masterpiece. The harmonies in this song are like no other. Through most of the verse (the parts that come before “You are the source of my strength”), every single syllable of the song makes a different chord.

Smallwood shared that he wrote the song when he was going through a very difficult time in his life, and it’s about faith triumphing over sorrow. (BostonFab)

Calvary

The studio version of “Calvary” is better than the live one, but either way it’s an unforgettable song. The blues influence beautifully complements the theme of the crucifixion.

Smallwood is on the piano in this performance.

Bless the Lord

On “Bless the Lord”, Smallwood drops some classical-sounding counterpoint right in the middle of the song in a very fun way.

What message does your music ministry want to bring this Christmas?

This page offers thoughts about the types of songs that can be used to minister during the holidays. We will look at the different messages about the Christ that are shared through Christmas music.

The story of Advent and Christmas is rich with meaning. Vocalists and choirs can find many themes and subjects to inspire choices for Christmas music to use in ministry. Even some songs that were not written with Christmas in mind can be beautiful expressions of the spirit of the season.

Here is a list of topics that are related to Christmas. Let each one inspire you to think of songs that relate to that subject that would be great for your church.

Songs about the baby

“And they came with haste , and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” Luke 2:16.

Everybody loves babies, and songs about Jesus as an infant inspire feelings of love and tenderness that are a beautiful part of “the Christmas spirit”.

Songs that carry that sentiment would include Christmas carols like “What Child Is This” or “Still, Still, Still”, contemporary songs like, “Mary Did You Know?”, spirituals like “Sweet Little Jesus Boy”, and many more.

Songs about beholding and adoring Jesus

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down , and worshipped him:” – Matthew 2:11.

These are different from the “baby” songs because instead of focusing on Jesus himself, they focus on our own feelings and acts of worship toward him. This worship is what all of the visitors did when they were in the presence of Jesus, and these songs encourage us to do the same.

Christmas songs like “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Now Behold the Lamb” express this feeling. But there are also lots of songs that are not actually Christmas songs that would be great in a Christmas service because they fit in with this same theme of reverent adoration and intimate worship. For example: “Here I Am to Worship” (“Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that You’re my God.”) or “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” (“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”).

Other events from the Christmas story

Along with the birth scene, there were other events that were a part of the arrival of Jesus – the prophecies to Mary and Joseph, the journey to Bethlehem, the shepherds on the hillside, the treachery of Herod. Songs that recreate these happenings are an important part of keeping the Christmas story alive.

Examples would be songs like “We Three Kings”, “Rise Up Shepherd and Follow”, The Coventry Carol, etc.

Songs about the Advent of the Savior

“ . . . and he shall send them a saviour , and a great one, and he shall deliver them.” – Isaiah 19:20.

This is the reason WHY we needed Christmas. There was no one who was able to save mankind before Jesus came.

Songs that deal with the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus or songs about our need for a Savior remind us of the hope that Christmas brings to our lives today.

An example of a song like this is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”.

Songs about “the Light of the world.”

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined . . . For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given . . .” – Isaiah 9:2,6. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” – John 1:4-5.

Songs about the light of Christ are a part of the Christmas story and also fit in with the “look” that we associate with Christmas (the lights on the tree, the lights on the houses, all that pretty stuff).

One common Christmas carol that I think is really about light shining in darkness is “Silent Night”. And, of course, there’s also “The Light of the World Is Jesus”.

Following the example of the angels — corporate praise

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” — Luke 2:13-14.

This is different from the intimate personal worship that the wise men experienced. This is worshipers coming together to make a joyful noise of praise.

This includes songs about the angels, songs that use the same words the angels sang (in Latin, it’s “Gloria in excelsis deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.”), or any other proclamations of praise.

“Keep Christ in Christmas” songs

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” – Matthew 22:21

In the ungodly, materialistic world that we live in, these songs remind us where we as Christians want to keep our focus during Christmas.

Yes, it’s true that the winter solstice celebrations are older than Christianity, and I’m OK with secular people doing the holidays whatever other way they want to do them, but we who believe in Jesus can be at peace with the secular world and still have a holy holiday of our own. These songs are not trying to tell other people what to do, they’re reminding US of what WE want to do.

It’s especially important for our children to hear messages like this so that they will remember that even if the rest of the world sees Christmas as a time of “gimme, gimme, gimme”, we are focused on the Lord.

Songs I know that express this message include “The Real Meaning of Christmas” and “Jesus Is the Reason”.

What are “rhythm”, “meter”, and “tempo”? It’s easy to learn!

Welcome to my lesson on rhythm and meter. This is the first part of a series on understanding music (basic music theory). The series is especially written for choir singers and uses examples from gospel choir music. The set of web pages will cover the topics that I think choir members will find the most useful in expanding the knowledge and skills they need to be excellent in their ministry.

Understanding the beat gives you the foundation to know where you are in the music. Rhythm keeps everyone together and keeps the music going.

The METER is the BEAT

The first thing you want to understand is what meter is. The meter is the beat — the pulse of the music. When you hear music, you can count along with it — 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4.

One beat is the strongest and then the other beats follow afterward. The strong beat, the “1” beat, is called the downbeat.

Most songs will have a pattern of either 3 beats or 4 beats. Songs that are in groups of 3 beats are triple meter, and groups of 4 beats are quadruple meter. Some songs sound more like they’re in groups of 2 beats rather than 4; if it’s in 2 beats, that’s duple meter.

When you hear people talk about a song being in “3/4 time”, that means triple meter. When they say “4/4 time”, that’s quadruple meter.

Here are a couple of examples. You can click on each the title to hear the song, and click on the meter chart to see the beat written out with the words underneath. Look at the chart and count along with the music:

How many questions did you get right on the quiz?

I got all 10 correct!

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Here’s a song with a lot of changes in meter

The verse of this song, “Let Everything That Hath Breath”, has one measure with 4 beats, then a measure with 3 beats, then 4 again, then 3 again, then 4 for four more measures, then 3 for three measures, then 4 for two more measures before the verse repeats. After the opening verses, it stays in 4/4 time for the rest of the song.

Can you hear the changes back and forth?

4-3-4-3-4-4-4-4-3-3-3-4-4

4-3-4-3-4-4-4-4-3-3-3-4-4

Understanding the beat can help you keep your place when you sing

Understanding the beat can help you keep your place when you sing. When you know how to count out the meter, then you can tell which beat is the one where you’re supposed to start singing your part.

Listen to this example — “I’ll Make It” by Hezekiah Walker. If you count along with the beat “1 – 2 – 3 – 4”, you’ll see that the chorus of the song (where the choir sings “All right now”) starts on beat 1.

Later in the song, on the repeating chorus (“I’ll make it, I’ll make it”, which starts at about the 2:30 mark on the video), the choir starts singing their part on beat 2.

The picture at right shows a metronome, which is a tool that musicians use to keep them on a steady tempo. (If you have a drummer who’s always speeding up the songs, get him/her a metronome to use when they practice.)

The RHYTHM is the lengths of the notes and spaces in the music

This is what I mean. When you hear a tune, there will be a pattern of long notes, short notes, and pauses. That’s the rhythm.

Listen to “Now Behold the Lamb”. If you count out the meter, it’s 4/4 time. If you listen to the melody, it starts with this series of note lengths:

That’s the rhythm. If we were going to be really specific, we would notice exactly how long each note lasts. Some notes last for 4 beats, or 2 beats or 1 beat, or even 1/2 or 1/4 of a beat. The pauses in between (in music, the pauses are called “rests”) also last for a certain number of beats. When you put them all together, that’s the rhythm of the tune.

At the same time that the singers are singing the rhythm of the melody, the instruments are playing different rhythms of their own. It would sound pretty boring if the drummer played the exact same rhythm that the singers were doing: daaa – da – daaa – da – daaaa (rest) da – daaa – da – daaa – da – daaaa (rest).

In some choir songs, different sections of the choir will be singing different lines and you’ll have two or three rhythms going on at the same time, like in “Say the Word”.

Now you understand Meter, Tempo, and Rhythm!

This web page is the first of a set of pages about music theory for choir singers. More topics are in the works!

Psalm 150 is a dramatic prelude with 4-part harmony and a classical feel. It then transitions into the energetic and uplifting Let Everything that Has Breath Praise. Together, they would make an excellent choice for opening a concert.

Tempo: The first part is slow, the second part is fast
Key: Cm, then Dm

Is this song a good choice?

The first thing to think about is whether the song will be a good fit for your choir. Some solo songs don’t translate to choir as well.

If the entire song is made up of very loose rhythms and lots of vocal riffing, it would be hard for the choir to stay together. An example of a song like this is “I Need You Now” by Smokie Norful. It probably wouldn’t work that well for choir. But if it’s only a few portions of the song that are like that you can have a lead singer do those portions and bring in the choir on other parts of the song.

If the tune makes big jumps from high notes to low notes (in my opinion, any jump that is an interval of a 5th or larger), it can be hard for people to find their harmonies. But again, if it’s only sections of the song that have those kind of jumps, then you could do those parts in unison and do the other portions of the song in harmony.

Doing the arrangement

But if you’ve got a song that you think will adapt well for a choir, here’s a basic approach for doing your arrangement:

Decide which section is going to sing the melody, the main tune.

The most common way that gospel songs are harmonized is that the sopranos sing the melody and the altos and tenors harmonize underneath the sopranos. But sometimes it’s done differently. You can decide which section is going to sound best carrying the main melody for your particular song.

Decide what parts will be in unison, what parts will be in harmony, and what parts will be done by a lead singer.

This is the place to let your judgment and your musical ear guide you. Here are some guidelines, but you might decide to break any or all of these rules.

Passages that have a very loose rhythm are better if you have just one person sing that part.

Passages where the melody has big jumps from high notes to low notes are better if they’re done in unison (however, if you have a very skilled choir, doing those passages in harmony can be very exciting).

Singing in unison can also be good sometimes if there is a particular line where you want to get the audience’s attention and put extra focus on a particular part of the lyrics.

Going from a unison part into a harmony part can give a feeling of excitement, motion, and power.

Figure out what the notes should be for the harmonies.

This is something that takes experience. For this you need to understand the chord progressions that are associated with the song.

If you have been singing in choirs for a long time, you might be able to hear automatically what the harmony notes should be.

If you don’t have that kind of experience, you can look at the chords that the musicians are playing to help you figure things out (if you don’t play an instrument yourself, working together with a musician could be very helpful). The singers who have the melody will be covering one note in the chord, and the other parts would fill out the rest of the notes to make the chord.

Take notes on what you’ve done.

You want to be able to remember how your arrangement goes so that you can teach it without stumbling. There are a few different ways that you can make a copy of your arrangement:

If your read music, you can make a sheet music version.

If you’re familiar with scales and scale tones, you can make a copy of the words to the song and write the scale tones that each part sings right above the words. (Here’s an example of the kinds of papers I make for myself to teach from, using scale tones. — SAMPLE TEACHING PAPER. It’s for the song “I Will Bless the Lord” by Hezekiah Walker).

Or you can make a recording of yourself singing each part (just like ChoirParts.com does!) and use those as a reference when you’re teaching.

If any of you have more tips about how to adapt solo gospel songs into choir songs, I hope you will share. Leave a comment!

Lead singer required? There is a lead part, but one choir I direct just has everyone sing the lead verse together in unison.

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Calvary

by Richard Smallwood

http://choirparts.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Calvary.mp3“Surely
He died on Calvary”A powerful song, using a blues feel to convey the intensity of the crucifixion. And the interplay between the lead singer and the choir is very nice. This song is also great for Good Friday.It’s a challenging song, though. If you plan to sing this one for Easter or Good Friday, start rehearsing it well in advance.Tempo: Slow, but with a strong beat
Key: Starts in G minor, then moves to A minor, then Bb minor

Help your choir learn the parts for Calvary! Practice tracks for the individual parts (Soprano, Alto, 1st Tenor and 2nd Tenor) are available from ChoirParts.com —Soprano, Alto, and Tenor parts for Calvary.Difficulty level:

For singers: 4/5

For musicians: 3/5

Lead singer required? Yes

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Celebrate (He Lives)

by Fred Hammond

http://choirparts.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Celebrate-He-Lives.mp3“He lives, He lives,
Christ has risen just like He said
The Lord and Savior’s no longer dead”This is written as a solo song, but I think it works great with a small choir. I taught it to my own choir for Easter one year. We sang the lead verses with the whole choir in unison and they sounded great. It takes some practice to get everybody to do the rhythm together precisely, but it was worth it.Tempo: Moderately slow, but with a strong beat
Key: AmResource links:

Downloadable instrumental version of Celebrate. This one is not really intended to be an accompaniment track, so if you use it that way the singers will have some competition from a saxophone playing the melody.

Difficulty level:

For singers: 3 / 5

For musicians: 3 / 5

Lead singer required? It depends on how you do it.

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Christ Did It All

by Hezekiah Walker

This is the version of “Christ Did It All” that they did on their second album. The version on their Morehouse College album is better known, but this one is slower and has more lyrics, lyrics that specifically talk about the crucifixion and the resurrection.

He Got Up

by Edwin Hawkins

“Death, where is your sting?
Sting, where is your grave?
Grave, where is your victory?”This is a short one, but it could be good for praise & worship time on Easter Sunday, for a less-experienced choir (done in unison, perhaps), or as a prelude before a longer song.Tempo: Fast
Key: EbDifficulty level:

For singers: 3/5

For musicians: 2/5

Lead singer required? No

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He’s Alive

by Michael Mindingall

“He’s alive, Jesus is alive . . .

How, you say, I know He’s still alive?
He hung His head, then bled and died
But He rose on the third day, and old death just couldn’t keep Him in the grave
Yes, He rose with all power in His hands”

A powerful a cappella number. Start rehearsing this one early if you’re going to sing it.

The album that this song is featured on, Michael Mindingall’s Communion, is out of print, but you can sometimes get it from third parties at Amazon. Last time I checked, they were asking $40.00 for it.

Tempo: Moderate
Key: Gm (at least that’s the way it sounds on the YouTube video)

Jesus Lives in Me

written by John P. Kee

“Yes, yes,
I’ve been truly blessed
Jesus lives in me”I love this upbeat optimistic song for Easter. And the interplay between the lead and the choir is fun. One of John P. Kee’s best pieces of writing.Tempo: Fast
Key: In the video below, it’s sounding in D. I don’t have the album any more, so I can’t confirm whether that’s the correct key.Difficulty level:

For singers: 3/5

For musicians: 3/5

Lead singer required? Yes

This song was done on an Edwin Hawkins workshop album, but Kee does the lead and is the driving force on the song.

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Just for Me (James Moore)

by James Moore

http://choirparts.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Just-for-Me-James-Moore.mp3They crucified my Savior
Crucified my Savior
One day on Calvary
They laid Him in the cold ground
Death could not hold Him down
He did it just for meThis song was written by someone I know personally!Bishop John Morris from Los Angeles. I grew up singing it, but I hadn’t included it on this page before because I thought it couldn’t be found anywhere. The John Morris version isn’t available any more.But when a commenter (thank you, Reginald Wright!) asked about the song, I did some more research, and it turns out that it was also done on an album by Rev. James Moore. They changed a few words on the chorus — they say “one day on Calvary” instead of “on lonesome Calvary” the way Bishop Morris does it — but it’s the same song.So glad to be able to include this one!

Lead singer required? Not necessarily. On the recording, they have a spoken word lead. Note: If you do it without a lead, your choir will need to REALLY know where they’re going and what comes next on each section.

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(There Is) No Greater Love

by James Cleveland

“Jesus went
To Calvary
To save a wretch
Like you and me
That’s love, that’s love”

An Easter classic. Every choir should know this song.

Make sure you include the added chorus at the end (it’s not on the original recording, but everyone loves it) — “But that’s not how, the story ends, three days later, He rose again, that’s love, that’s love”.

Tempo: Slow
Key: In this video, it’s coming out in the key of B, but the other references I see to it are in Bb.

Precious Is the Blood

by Joe Pace

http://choirparts.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Precious-Is-the-Blood.mp3“Oh, Lamb of God, crucified
For my sins He bled and died
And oh, how precious is the blood”A very simple but lovely melody that encourages singing along (if you really want the congregation to sing along, though, you would need to make the lyrics available to them). It starts in unison and builds by doing key changes and adding harmonies.Tempo: Slow
Key: Db, then D, Eb, E, F.Links:

Beautiful arrangement of a spiritual

Everything you would need to know about performing Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise” with your choir.

The song was on the “Adoration: Live in Atlanta” album by Richard Smallwood and Vision, released in 1996.

It is hugely popular in the gospel music world. It is not a simple song to learn or perform, but many choirs include it in their repertoire.

A masterpiece of songwriting, “Total Praise” is regarded by many as their favorite gospel choir song ever.

Overview of the song “Total Praise”

The song is in the key of Db. It is written for three-part choir (soprano, alto, and tenor). On the original recording it is accompanied by piano, drums, and string orchestra.

The most beloved thing about this song is the choral harmony. Each syllable brings another beautiful chord, forming a progression through the lyrical line. It starts off sweet and peaceful on the opening (“Lord, I will lift mine eyes to the hills . . .”) and gradually builds more and more tension as it goes through next lines. When they reach the word “storm”, you can feel the energy that has built up and is then released as the choir lets loose on “You are the source of my strength; You are the strength of my life.”

Following that climax, the choir comes back down on “I lift my hands in total praise to you”, with a descending line that soothing and sweet and then goes straight into the other high point of the song, the dramatic “Amen” done in four inversions.

Songwriter and publisher info for “Total Praise”

“Total Praise” was written by Richard Smallwood, one of the most accomplished and admired gospel songwriters ever.

Teaching “Total Praise” to your choir

Points to keep in mind

It’s a complex song.

The notes the choir sings form some unusual chords, so it’s not the kind of song where you can just teach the soprano part and everyone else will automatically know what to sing.

It will probably take more rehearsal time to learn “Total Praise” than it takes to learn a typical gospel choir song. So make sure that you plan for enough time, at several rehearsals, for your choir to be able to learn the parts well.

It may help to encourage your choir members to get practice tracks (available from ChoirParts.com) that they can listen to on their own time to practice their individual parts.

There are some serious high notes in the song.

“Total Praise” starts in a lower range, but at the end it does get high. The highest note the sopranos sing is an F (an octave and a half above middle C), the highest alto note is a Db, and the highest tenor note is an Ab.

If your choir members have trouble with notes that high, you might want to change the key or rearrange the parts.

The hymnal arrangement of “Total Praise”

from the African-American Heritage Hymnal

The arrangement (done by Stephen Key) of “Total Praise” in the African-American Heritage Hymnal changes the alto and tenor parts on some portions of the song.
In the places where the notes go the highest, the alto and tenor parts get switched. The altos sing the part that the tenors had on the original recording, and the tenors sing the part that the altos had, but an octave lower. The advantage of this is that the sopranos can still hit their beautiful high notes without the tenors and altos having to go so high. This could make the song much more accessible for some choirs.

The Donnie McClurkin version is popular, too

Donnie McClurkin did a rendition of “Total Praise” on his album Psalms Hymns & Spiritual Songs.

Other versions of “Total Praise”

“Total Praise” is a very popular song for other choirs and groups to cover.

The Howard University Gospel Choir features it as one of their signature songs. I like the ending they do on it, the way they use the sopranos.

The Churches of Christ All Conference Choir does it a cappella in four parts, with a really cool bass part (even though they have some of the notes wrong on the tenor part).

How to play Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise” on piano

A tutorial by ExtremeKeyboard (in two parts)

More choir songs by this brilliant songwriter!

If you love “Total Praise”, check out more of Richard Smallwood’s music

The page below is my compilation of the very best choir songs that Richard Smallwood has released in his decades-long career:

This song is my Christmas gift to everyone

When Christ Was Born is a lovely gospel choir song for Christmas. It has an African choral feel to it, and it’s easy to learn and easy to sing.

I wrote this song in 1995, and I’ve taught it to choirs at my own church and other churches. It always goes over well when it’s sung in services and programs.

On this page you can hear and download a demo version of When Christ Was Born for free. This page also has the complete lyrics to the song. I hope you enjoy learning, teaching, and sharing this sweet Christmas song.

(This picture is the cover graphic that I used when I made a CD version of When Christ Was Born with some friends of mine. The graphic was made by the guy from the company that manufactured the CD package, Cargill Consultants, Inc. Unfortunately, he didn’t include his name on the credits.)

Video: Demo recording of “When Christ Was Born” – with lyrics

This video uses the same demonstration recording that you can download for free on this page. It’s just me multi-tracking myself.

How “When Christ Was Born” was written

I was driving when I wrote it. Yep, really.

The first seed of the song came earlier, when I was listening to some African music on the radio at home. I heard a little two-note rhythm and shape that I thought would be great opening for a “Hallelujah” (although the song on the radio took it in a very different direction and had other words). That little seed of an idea just stayed in the back of my mind for a long time.

Then, one night in November of 1995, I was driving home from a church convention (in San Bernardino, as I recall, or maybe Ontario). As I was driving I was thinking that I’d like to write a song for our upcoming Christmas concert. I wanted to write something that would have a different sound from the standard Christmas carols. Then I remembered that little “Hallelujah” idea and decided to try making a song that drew on a bit of the feeling of the South African choirs that I love so much, like Ladysmith Black Mambazo, etc. I started putting pieces together in my mind as I continued driving, and by the time I got back to Los Angeles, the song was just about done.

And don’t worry, I’ve done all the paperwork to get it copyrighted.The Library of Congress Registration Number is PAu002042251

The first performance . . .

Image shared on Wikimedia Commons by Alina Zienowicz.

. . . almost didn’t happen.

The choir that was having the Christmas concert was the District Choir that I direct, which is a mass choir made up of several churches. So any songs that were suggested for the concert had to be approved by the head of the district.

I made a quick tape recording of myself and a few relatives singing the song (after Thanksgiving dinner) and sent it to him. I was hoping that he would get the idea of the nature of the song in spite of the roughness of the tape recording. He didn’t. He called me and politely suggested that he had some other Christmas music in mind that he was hoping I would consider. I negotiated with him to let me try the song one time in rehearsal and then we could decide whether it should be included in the concert program (I had already started teaching it to some of the choir members at my own church, so I was confident that it would sound just as good with the whole district). He agreed to give it a try.

Things went great in the district rehearsal and I got the green light to include “When Christ Was Born” in the concert. The District Choir did a lovely job on it at the concert and it has been done in several Christmas services since then.

Free download of “When Christ Was Born”

This is a living-room recording I made of the song. It’s me, multi-tracked, singing all the parts along with a very simple piano and percussion track. You’re free to download it, learn it, teach it to your own choir, and sing it in your church.

CD version

I made a CD of When Christ Was Born back in 1997 with some friends of mine. The name we gave our group was The Apostolic Project.

The CD was a single with two Christmas songs. One was When Christ Was Born, and the other was a song called Glory, which is a cappella and has a Baroque feel to it.

The recording came out pretty good, but not completely the way I hear it in my head. I’m very grateful, though, to the wonderful people who devoted so much time and energy to learning the song and recording it with me. I love you guys.

If you see any websites with this CD listed at a high price, don’t buy it! There are some sites that seem to just feature anything that’s listed at CD Baby without knowing what it is. I have seen sites trying to charge full album price for this CD when it’s a single that only has two songs on it.

Both songs are available as MP3 downloads at Amazon.

Tips for performing “When Christ Was Born”

Angelic Choir of the Nativity. Ancient Greek painting. Public domain.

I do When Christ Was Born in G. If you’re working with gospel musicians, they might prefer Ab, which will work fine as well.

I originally wrote the song for a 3-part choir — Soprano, Alto, and Tenor — because that’s the most common configuration for contemporary gospel choirs. The altos sing the main words on the verses, with accents from the tenors and sopranos. All of the parts sing together on portions of the verses and on the chorus.

I added a Bass part later and have taught it that way to 4-part choirs, which was great for me because I’m a big fan of 4-part singing.

Choirs like the song because it doesn’t have any notes that are painfully high.

The 3-part version would definitely need the instrumental accompaniment to have a full sound. The 4-part version would probably sound good with nothing but the percussion, especially if the basses added a low hum on the G underneath the altos when they do their part.

For accompaniment I use one keyboard instrument (either piano, electric keyboard, or organ) and bongos to keep the African feeling going. At the end of the song, when we get to the repeating chorus, I usually have the keyboard drop out after a couple of repeats and finish the song with just the choir and the bongos.

On the final “hallelujah” that closes the song, I have the choir hold out the syllable “LE” for a while — “Halle – – – – – – – – – – – lujah”.

Practice tracks and sheet music

You can purchase individual practice tracks for the Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass parts from ChoirParts.com.

Church choir music for memorial services

(gravesite photo by GrzegorzPetka at Wikimedia Commons)

What should the choir sing at the funeral?

Funeral, memorial service, celebration of life, homegoing. Whatever they call the service, it is one that will be remembered for a long time. A tribute to someone who was a beloved part of a community.

In most Christian funerals, the music selected is hopeful, focusing on the expectation of eternal life. In some instances, the “homegoing service” will be a genuinely uplifting occasion, with feelings of joy and inspiration right along with the tears and memories. And the soul-stirring sounds of gospel music can be an unforgettable addition to the program for any Christian memorial service.

Here are suggestions of some of my favorite gospel songs for choirs to sing during funeral services.

And please, if you have a suggestion for a good gospel choir song for a funeral, please add your song!

Index of choir songs for funerals

Below is a list of the songs that are currently profiled on this page.

With each song I will also give my opinion about how easy or hard each song is for the singers and for the musicians. These difficulty levels are expressed on a scale of 1 to 5, so “1/5″ means that a song is very easy, while “5/5″ means that it is very challenging. In my opinion, anyway; you’re free to disagree.

Well Done

by Mark Hubbard

(this is the album that “Well Done” is on; it’s not available as a single)
“What do you want the Lord to say?
Well done, my good and faithful servant
That’s what I want the Lord to say
That is what I want the Lord to say”

Difficulty level:

For singers: 2/5

For musicians: 2/5

Lead singer required? Yes, but the lead has a very small part.

This album is out of print, but there are some copies available from resellers. The CD has 9 songs on it; “Well Done” is track #4.

Angels Will Be Singing

by Edwin Hawkins

“Angels will be singin’
Joy bells will be ringin’
They’ll all welcome me when I get home”

And remember, if there’s a particular song that was a favorite of the deceased, it always makes a touching addition to the music for the memorial service, even if the song isn’t “on topic”.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Psalm 116:15

(photo of rehearsal with Eric Whitacre from Flickr, courtesy vocalessence)

You hear a choir song that’s just fantastic, but you know that it will be a serious challenge for your choir to learn it. Can you do it?

Gospel choirs love to sing songs that are easy and natural to learn, but there’s a lot of wonderful music that takes more work to learn and sing well. These songs can be a blessing and inspiration in your church, and it’s worth the time and effort it takes to learn them.

If you, the choir director, want to teach your choir a song that’s a bit difficult, you need to plan and prepare beforehand the best way to present the song and how to help your choir in learning the material. This page gives tips for how to help your gospel choir learn challenging material.

Once you know the fundamentals of song teaching, you’ll be ready to take on teaching more complex material.

Choosing the song that you will teach your choir

What’s too hard and what’s not?

Anthem Of Praise by Richard Smallwood

Know your choir members. Before you pick any song for your choir, you need to get to know your choir members and their abilities. and be really sure that they can do it. It’s OK if it’s a stretch, but don’t pick something that’s totally out of their reach.

Listen to the way that your choir sings now. How strong are they on harmonies? How do they do with fancy rhythms? How well do they hit high notes? This can give you an idea of what type of more complex songs they would be ready for.

How does your choir respond to material that might be difficult to learn?

They're eager to take on a challenge.

They're OK with it and they're willing to do the work if we ask them to.

Prepare the song well

Preparation is important with any song, but especially with hard songs!

Learn the song inside and out. Once you’ve chosen a song, the first thing you need to do is get familiar with it yourself. When you teach the song, you want to be totally comfortable and confident. So you need to get to know the song yourself backward, forward, and sideways. Practice it on your own until you know every part down pat and can sing them all with ease.

Keep the parts straight. Make sure that you’re certain about what the starting notes are for the sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses on each portion of the song. It’s easy to get mixed up during a rehearsal and starting teach the wrong line to the wrong section of the choir. I like to chart out what all the parts are using scale tones. The picture at the right is an example. You can click this link to see it larger -> Chart for “I Will Bless the Lord”. Often I’ll have a paper like that with me when I’m teaching in case I need a reminder.

Help is available. Another resource for working out the parts on choir songs is ChoirParts.com, where you can get downloadable MP3 files with individual practice for soprano, alto, tenor, and/or bass parts. You can listen to them to train yourself on the parts, and you could also send your choir members to the site to get the parts for their own learning and practice.

Plan the way that you will teach the song

Caught Up by James Hall

Have a lesson plan for your song. Once you know the song yourself, make a plan for how you want to teach it. Most of the time when a choir director teaches a song, they will start with the first passage of the song and teach the soprano part first, then the alto, then the tenor. But I’ve found that with more complicated material it helps a lot if you choose the right “entry point” for teaching the song. Start with whatever passage you can get the choir flowing with and enjoying. If you do that, they will be more motivated to learn the difficult parts.

I remember one time when I was teaching a song where the most complicated part was the introduction. I felt that if I started teaching it straight from the beginning, there was a possibility that some of the choir members would make a quick decision that song was “too hard” and they didn’t like it. So I planned to start with a passage in the middle that was somewhat challenging but very pretty, then add to that the easy part that came right before it. This would get the choir flowing really well with the main body of the song. Then I could teach the ending part with the high notes, and then teach the introduction LAST. I’m happy to say that the plan worked very well and the choir did a great job on that song.

Consider giving them their parts before the rehearsal. If you decide to use practice tracks as a part of your teaching, you can either have the choir members download the practice tracks they need or you can make them practice CDs. Either way, this can make it possible for the choir to start hearing their parts before the get to the rehearsal.

Plan the rehearsals

Hallelujah Lord by Sounds of Blackness

Plan for plenty of rehearsal time. When you’re doing complex music, you’re going to need more rehearsal time. Start rehearsing the song far enough in advance of when you plan to sing it so that you can have enough rehearsal and put enough time into practicing the song.

Plan for where to place the song in the rehearsal. Sometimes if I’m going to be working on several songs in one rehearsal, I try to go over the most challenging song late in the rehearsal. My theory is that whatever song we practice last, that’s the one that will be “stuck” in everybody’s minds after rehearsal is over, which will help them remember it more. This might work for your choir, or they might have less energy for working on difficult material after they’ve already sung four other songs. Experiment and see what’s right for your group.

Consider doing sectional rehearsals. If you separate the sopranos, alto, tenors, and basses, and have them practice by themselves, there is less downtime and more real practicing can happen. For this idea to work, you would need to either: 1) Have section leaders who know the song just as well as you do and are capable of doing good teaching, or 2) Have the different choir sections come in to rehearse with you at different times. Something that I did for one project was to have a selected section come to rehearsal half an hour earlier than the rest of the choir to do a sectional rehearsal right before the main rehearsal.

And He Shall Purify from the album Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration

Presenting the song in rehearsal

OK, now we’re actually in rehearsal. What do we do?

Should you use the word “hard”? I don’t think so. There are some directors who do say to their choirs, “This song is hard!”, but I think that can discourage a choir. I will often say things like, “This song is going to take some work.” I think that communicates that I know they can do it, even though we’ll be putting a lot of time and effort into it. The only time I use the word “hard” is AFTER they finish something (“that was the hardest part of the song right there, the rest is easier”).

Drill, baby, drill! Do lots of repetition. And again I say, do lots of repetition (did I repeat that?). Just because they sing something perfectly one time doesn’t mean it will stay. The things we remember are the things we do over and over. Once you’ve done a passage right a few times, go on to the next passage, then go back and do the two passages again together. When you’ve gone over the whole song (or all the portions of the song you’re going to be rehearsing that day), sing it all one more time from the top. Repetition drills it into the brain.

Should you play the recording for them? I think that varies from choir to choir. For practical reasons, it can help the choir understand what the song is supposed to sound like. And some singers may find it inspiring and fall in love with the song. But others might get discouraged and think, “no way are we ever going to sound like that!” Again you have to know your people. If you do decide to play the recording, only do it once. Practicing along to the recording is a bad idea. It makes it difficult to hear your own singers and really tell whether they got the parts right. It may also cause them to use the recording as a crutch and feel like they can’t sing without it.

Deciding when they’re ready to sing it

Come Unto Me by Take 6

How “perfect” do you want them to sound? You should have your own standard for what you expect from your choir. A director at a huge church that broadcasts their worship service on TV will be looking for a sound that’s almost like a professional recording. But a choir in an average setting should understand that there is a level of performance that they can achieve that will be good enough to be a blessing to the service. When you are singing the song to the best of YOUR ability, then you’re ready to share it with your church.

Sometimes when you’re about to do really challenging material, people will get nervous. As the performance day gets closer, people may voice doubts . . . maybe we should wait a few more weeks on this one . . . maybe we’re not ready . . . can’t we just sing Jesus Is Real again?

Business guru Seth Godin talks a lot about “shipping”. Shipping is when you take the product you’ve been working on and get it out the door and released to the public. And something that happens a lot in business is that fear creeps in when it gets close to a shipping date. All kinds of reasons get tossed around for why it’s not ready, why it might fail, why the shipping date should be pushed back a little.

It’s the same with our music ministry. All of us have a little bit of that voice of fear within us that will NEVER be ready to do anything risky. We have to overcome that voice of fear if we’re ever going to do anything that will challenge us, stretch us, and cause us to grow. If we’re trying to wait until “everything is perfect”, we’ll never grow. Decide beforehand how good is good enough for your choir and your church, and when you reach that level, then SHIP.

I always sing when I’m directing the choir. It helps me to stay synchronized with what the choir is doing, and I think it helps me keep my gestures on point. How about you? I posted this question on the ChoirParts.com Facebook page. Drop by there and share your answer — https://www.facebook.com/questions/10151454550215493/

Choir calendar: July2013

Independence Day

Sometimes around Independence Day our choir may sing songs about freedom through Christ. A couple of favorites are I’m Free by the Thompson Community Singers and I’m So Glad I’m Free by the Florida Mass Choir.

The Holidays?

Don’t call me crazy. The holiday season will be here before you know it. Start now thinking about what you want to do with your choir at the end of the year. I’ve already started choosing and arranging songs for my choir’s Thanksgiving concert. I’m hoping to start rehearsing in a serious way in August. The sooner you start, the more confident you’ll be when the time comes.

Website News

Big stuff! I’m in the process of moving the ChoirParts.com website to a new hosting service. I’m praying and believing that there will be fewer outages and communication problems when everything gets moved to the new location. The current website will remain accessible as always until the new site is ready. Stay tuned for further announcements.

Share!

Feel free to share any questions you have or tips that would be useful to others. Also feel free to share this newsletter with anyone you think would find it useful. God Bless!

Hope everybody is doing well and feeling well as we head into summer.This month’s article: How to get better at picking out choir parts

People ask me from time to time how to get better at listening to choir music and discerning the individual parts. Obviously, it takes practice, but what kind of practice? I wrote a blog post with some ideas for how to work on this – Learning how to hear choir parts.

Q & A: I want to get started directing, but I don’t have a choir!

Some people get drafted into being choir directors, but others of us know that the call direct has been put on us before we have a choir to work with. Someone asked me for ideas about how they could break into directing, and I gave the following reply – If you’re feeling the calling to direct choirs . . .

Choir calendar: June2013

So what’s coming up in June?

Father’s Day, of course! It’s on the 16th this year.

Think about songs to encourage and strengthen the men of your church (like maybe “Hold Up the Light” by the New Jersey Mass Choir or “Standing in the Gap” by Nicholas, both of which you can find here).

Or you can focus on songs that celebrate our heavenly Father, like “This Is My Father’s World” or other songs that talk about God’s leadership or His protection.

June is also a big time for weddings. I had a choir sing at my wedding, and I know of other people who have done the same. If you have ideas about good choir songs for weddings, drop them in the comments on this blog post – Anybody have a choir sing at their wedding?

There weren’t any new songs added to the catalog this month due to some technical issues, but the portion of the site where the existing music is is working just fine. Stay tuned for further developments.Share!

Feel free to share any questions you have or tips that would be useful to others. Also feel free to share this newsletter with anyone you think would find it useful. God Bless!

Gospel songs that are easy enough for a choir to learn in one day!

Usually, the best practice for teaching music to a choir is to practice a song at several rehearsals before you have to sing it. And that’s the way that choir directors prefer to operate.

But sometimes there are situations where you don’t have that luxury. What do you do then?

The secret is advanced preparation. Even if it’s a last-minute situation for the choir, you are ready for it. You know that things like this will happen sometimes, and you already have a plan for what you can do. Here’s how you make your plan.

When do situations like that happen?

Now, I’m not saying that we should make it a standard practice to bring new material to a choir at the last minute. Quoting from my choir directing page: “Practice the song at more than one rehearsal. I find that choirs remember music MUCH better if they are able to rehearse on more than one occasion. Two rehearsals are pretty good, three or more are great. If you have only had one, you’re gambling.”

But sometimes you have to take that gamble. I’ve been in situations like that plenty of times. It often happens at conferences, workshops, and other meetings where several churches are coming together. They’ll have a mass choir that gets one rehearsal and then sings that same day. Since the singers are from a lot of different assemblies, there may not be any songs that they all know. And the musicians may not be the one you usually work with, either.

P. A. W. International Men’s Choir

As a director, you should ALWAYS be prepared!

Have music in mind that you can teach any time!

As a choir director, you should have a “teaching repertoire”, songs that you are ready to teach at a moment’s notice. And be sure that some of the songs in your teaching repertoire are pieces that a choir can learn in just one rehearsal and still perform well.

When I would go to those state conferences, I saw a lot of directors teach songs to the state choir. Some of them would decide to teach their very favorite song. But that favorite song didn’t always work out. Many times the state choir would learn a song in the afternoon, and then by the time of the evening service they had forgotten it completely. They couldn’t remember the words, or how a part of the tune went, etc.

Always think about whether a song will work well for a particular event. And for events where you have limited rehearsal time, you want music that will “stick”.

What kind of songs am I talking about?

What makes a choir song really easy?

These are the things to look for:

They should be easy songs for the choir AND the musicians to learn in one day. No complicated tunes or tricky harmonies, not a lot of words to remember, and chord patterns that are not difficult to play. It’s a challenge to find songs that are easy without being cheesy. When you find one, it’s a real treasure.

In order to widen the possibilities, you can include songs that would require more preparation for the lead singer. Often, you can find at least one person who either knows the song already or they are a quick learner (I believe that it’s OK to let a lead singer look at a copy of the words while they sing). And sometimes the director can just do the lead themselves.

The box on the right will take you to the list of my favorite one-rehearsal choir songs. And those suggestions may inspire you to think of other songs you know that would be just as easy for a choir to catch onto.

And see my tip below for how to prepare your materials so that you’re ALWAYS ready.

Be Ready!

Kodak 20111 CD-R 80 10 Pack Paper Box with 10 Sleeves

Here’s a good way to be prepared for the next conference, workshop, or any situation where you might need to teach a choir song on short notice!

Get some blank CDs and burn yourself a collection of easy-to-learn choir songs. Then just keep the CD with you all the time along with your other music-related stuff. That way, if you find yourself in a situation where you need to teach a song in a short amount of time, you’ve got some good easy material at the ready. Just hand the CD to the musicians and they can start learning the song.

Index of one-rehearsal songs

I’ve got a few different song lists here. One list is very well known songs, another is songs that might not be familiar to everyone, and there’s a list of holiday songs.

FAMOUS one-rehearsal songs

These are songs that are very well known (that’s my own judgment; I hear them often, it may be different where you are). They are easy enough for a choir to learn in one rehearsal and perform well, but since they’re very popular, they might give the impression that you couldn’t think of anything to sing, so you just went for something that everyone knew. But if the choir is going to be singing a few different songs, including one that’s very common is OK.

Also, while these songs may be very familiar to us, they will still seem new to a choir of teens or kids. And it can be delightful to hear classic songs get a new breath of life that way. (I also have another web page that is specifically on the topic of working with a choir of young people).

Your Grace and Mercy

by the Mississippi Mass Choir

“Your grace and mercy brought me through
I’m living this moment because of You”

The only things that’s difficult about this song is trying to sing it without crying. The choir does an easy chorus, and the lead singer has two verses. The melody on the lead verses is also easy, so even if your lead singer doesn’t already know the song, they’ll be fine as long as you give them a copy of the words.

Everything

by Tye Tribbett

A reverent worship song that starts out mellow and builds in intensity when it gets to the bridge. What makes it an easy one to learn is that the lead singer feeds the words to the choir as the song goes along, so there’s very little that the choir has to remember.

It starts off in unison with a gentle, soothing melody, and then builds more and more intensity by adding harmonies and key changes. They do six key changes and end up singing very high, but you can easily limit the key changes to make the song easier to sing.

Jesus Is His Name

by Ricky Dillard and the New Generation Chorale

A good, old-fashioned foot-stomper. The lead singer has two verses, but every line of the verses starts with “He is . . .” and then some attribute about God. Give your lead singer a little crib sheet to sing from and they’ll be fine. And the choir chorus and vamp are super easy.

I’ve used this song with good success with mass choirs at state conferences and district meetings.

God Is (An Awesome God)

by Bishop Eddie Long and the New Birth Total Praise Choir

“God is an awesome God
He is an awesome God
Great and mighty is His holy name
He is an awesome God”

This song came out in 2006 and spread like wildfire. It’s very easy for the musicians, since it has one chord progression that just repeats throughout the song. And the choir part is also very easy to latch onto and remember. There are some slightly intricate parts in the vamp that could be left out if you need to.

I first learned “God Is” at a pre-rehearsal for a national church convention. Several songs were covered in that particular rehearsal, but “God Is” was the only one that I could easily remember the next day. The rest of the songs took a few more rehearsals to really get a good grasp on. It’s also a favorite for my home church choir.

Tempo: Fast
Key: Starts in F minor, then goes up in 1/2 steps several times. If you’re trying to make the song as easy as possible, of course, you wouldn’t want to do a gazillion key changes.

Why We Sing

by Kirk Franklin

A classic. This is the song that first put Kirk Franklin on the map. I remember first learning it from Donnie Golder at a national church conference; I was crying by the end of it. And yes, we learned it in one rehearsal.

Usually, a song with this many words would not be a one-rehearsal song. But with this one the pauses at the end of each phrase are long enough for the director to mouth the words to the next phrase before the choir comes back in (that’s what Donnie did). Also, it has lots of singing in unison, the only harmony is in the chorus. The original recording includes a spoken-word lead, but that’s optional.

The same structure as Kirk Franklin’s first hit, Why We Sing. Pauses at the end of each phrase, just long enough for you to mouth the next words to your choir. And lots of unison. And beautiful. This type of song is one of Kirk’s best talents.

Oh Lord, We Praise You

by Hezekiah Walker

The lead singer has to know the verse, but that’s it. The choir chorus is only five words. A lively, happy song that everybody has a good time with.

The original version by Hezekiah Walker is only on iTunes.

Tempo: Fast

Key: Starts in Db, then changes keys countless times. You probably won’t want to go as high as they do.

You may also be interested in this really nice bilingual version by the Heritage Christian Center Mass Choir. They have the chorus in English and Spanish and also lead verses in both English and Spanish.

Simple and lively with an old-school gospel charm. The lead singer sings the chorus first, and then the choir follows with the same chorus. The bridge and vamp are just variations of the same words and melody.

Tempo: Fast

Key: Ab

Emmanuel

by Norman Hutchins

It starts with unison, which is always helpful. Only few words to learn. But beautiful and inspiring. Kinda goofy that it’s not available for purchase as a single. You can only get this song by buying the whole album.

Tempo: Moderate

Key: D, then Eb, then E. For most gospel musicians, D and E are not their preferred keys. They would probably like it better if you start in Db, then go to D, then end in Eb.

My home church choir loves this song. I usually try to teach songs at three rehearsals before we sing it in service. I did follow that policy with “Battlefield” as usual, but the choir took to it so easily that they would have been able to sing it the next day if we needed to.

Norman Hutchins has recorded two slightly different versions of this toe-tapper. The one on the Battlefield album is the easiest version. That’s the one on this Amazon link (unfortunately, it’s only available on the album, not as a single). There are only a few words that the choir has to learn and the tune and parts are very simple and straightforward. The lead has a few more words to learn, but they’re pretty familiar phrases. The version available on iTunes is from a different album and it has some additions and variations that are not quite as easy as the other version.

Tempo: Fast

Key: Db

Which one of these FAMOUS one-rehearsal songs has worked best for your choir?

Jesus Is His Name by Ricky Dillard

Why We Sing by Kirk Franklin

My Life Is in Your Hands by Kirk Franklin

Oh, Lord, We Praise You by Hezekiah Walker

God Is by Bishop Eddie Long

Emmanuel by Norman Hutchins

Battlefield by Norman Hutchins

I’ve Got a Testimony by Rev. Clay Evans

Your Grace and Mercy by Mississippi Mass Choir

Everything by Tye Tribbett

Our Father, You Are Holy by Ricky Dillard

Alpha and Omega by Israel Houghton

Other

Total Answers 151

Total Votes 151

LESS COMMON one-rehearsal songs

These are songs that you don’t hear a lot (at least, I don’t hear them a lot out where I am). In my opinion, that makes them better choices than the really famous ones. I generally prefer NOT to have the choir singing a song that everyone in the church was already listening to in their car on the way to the meeting.

A fun, spirited song. I chose the Brooklyn Tabernacle version rather than the Barnes Family version because the Brooklyn Tabernacle recording features the choir more prominently.

The lead singer would need to be familiar with the verse or be given a copy of the words. The lead part is flexible enough that it wouldn’t matter whether the singer remembered exactly how they did it on the record, they can just sing it however they feel it.

Now this one would be for a choir that has strong singing skills but limited rehearsal time. The tune and words are very easy to remember, but the song uses some high notes to make its declaration.

“He’s Alright” was first done as a workshop song with the Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar Workshop. The original Edwin Hawkins album from that workshop is out of print now, but here’s a link for a version by Joe Pace and the Colorado Mass Choir.

Tempo: Moderate with a strong beat

Key: Ab

But you can find the original Hawkins version on YouTube: He’s Alright

Redeemed

by the L.A. Mass Choir

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“I’ve been redeemed

I’ve been redeemed”

For this one, you need a really good lead singer who can carry the song and minister to the congregation. The choir has a chorus and bridge that are short and repetitive but very beautiful. A good song for Easter.

“Redeemed” is a song that came through for me in a big way at a state church conference. There had been miscommunication and confusion the whole day about whether they were going to do a mass choir, where and when rehearsal might be, and who would conduct the rehearsal. About few hours before service time, it was finally decided that there would be a rehearsal and I would be one of the directors in charge. With no advance preparation, I came in to the rehearsal, taught this song, got a dear friend of mine to do the lead, and it brought the house down in the evening service.

A beautiful song that also carries a lot of emotion, especially if you preface it by talking about the story of Job. The chorus is easy and repeats a lot. The only potential challenge is the bridge, but that’s not too hard either.

An easy chorus that’s done first by the lead, then the choir. On the middle section also, the lead sings it first, and then the choir follows. The vamp is a lot of fun and if you wanted to make it even easier, you could have the lead singer introduce the vamp parts as well, doing it “audience participation” style.

Tempo: Fast

Key of Bb

My Soul Is Satisfied

written by Alex Hamilton

“Satisfied

Satisfied

Satisfied

Right now my soul is satisfied”

My Soul Is Satisfied is my favorite one-rehearsal song. It requires a good lead singer, but it’s super easy for the choir. They only have to say three words, except for the altos who say six words. The lead does all of the heavy lifting.

I used this song the first time I ever directed a mass choir at a church conference and it was perfect. I introduced it to the lead singer the evening before and let him read the words as he sang. The choir ate it up in the rehearsal, and when we did it in the service, they wouldn’t stop singing!

For years I’ve taught this song without knowing quite where it came from. But in 2009 I got an email from the gentleman who wrote it! He had done the song once with James Cleveland’s Gospel Music Workshop of America, but the GMWA album is out of print. But on his website he has a recording of it with his community choir. That album is called God Canby Rev. Alex Hamilton and the Voices of Inspiration. (Hear samples from “God Can” album)

Even though the James Cleveland album is no longer in print, somebody posted the GMWA version of “My Soul Is Satisfied” on YouTube. Thank you, StyleNMan!

Mighty King

by Joan Hall

Yup, I wrote this one. I specifically wrote it to be a one-rehearsal song for our District Choir. It has a lot of words which gives it some interest, but it’s an echo song. If the lead singer knows the words that’s fine, but they could also read the words as they sing, and the choir just repeats after the lead for most of it.

Tempo: Moderate with a strong beat

Key: Db

Which one of these LESS COMMON one-rehearsal songs has worked best for your choir?

Making a Way by Milton Brunson

He’s Alright by Edwin Hawkins

Mighty King by Joan Hall

My Soul Is Satisfied by Alex Hamilton

Redeemed by L.A. Mass Choir

Job’s Song by Hezekiah Walker

I Just Can’t Tell It All by P.A.W. Mass Choir

God Is Able by Joe Leavell

It Was a Great Thing by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Awesome Wonder by Roger & Sam Grandison

Other

Total Answers 28

Total Votes 28

.

One-rehearsal songs for the HOLIDAYS

Most of the time we try to plan our Christmas and other holiday music well in advance. But if the situation arises where you need a holiday song that you can teach fast, what can you bring? One good song choice for Christmas is Emmanuel, which we talked about earlier on this page. Here are a couple other suggestions as well.

Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child

Traditional

A lot of us grew up singing this song, but even a choir that hadn’t heard it before would do well with this as a one-rehearsal tune. There are enough pauses in it to give a director time to mouth the words to anyone who needed that, and the melody is easy and natural. This is a great one to do as a last song for a Christmas concert.

Tempo: Fast

Key of F

Out of the recorded versions I saw on Amazon, the one by Mariah Carey was the best.

Which one of these one-rehearsal HOLIDAY songs has worked best for your choir?